The perfect four game road trip the Stars had envisioned was spoiled in game three against the Columbus Blue Jackets as they beat the Dallas Stars 2-1 in a shootout. The Stars have to be at least thrilled that they didn’t leave without at least one point in the standings as they forced overtime with a late goal.
The Blue Jackets coaching staff made the curious decision to play Joonas Korpisalo over Sergei Bobrovksi (10-1-1 all time against the Stars) look like a stroke of genius. They were also coming off their NHL mandated bye week and showed no signs of sluggishness. Dillon Heatherington made his NHL debut for the Stars against the team that drafted him. Ben Bishop had a strong night with 25 saves on 26 shots.
The Blue Jackets had the Stars stuck at four shots on goal for a majority of the first period even though the Stars had a couple of good cycles going in the offensive zone. Jordan Schroeder opened the scoring with a point blank goal off a Stars miscue. Dan Hamhuis’ pass attempt was thwarted by the forechecking Tyler Motte, and the puck put Schreoder in a perfect position to beat Ben Bishop five hole.
With a delayed penalty called and an extra attacker on the ice late in the second period, Korpisalo kept the Stars at bay with a crazy desperation jab on Tyler Seguin’s bullet from the left circle. The Stars almost drew even early in the third period when Antoine Roussel jammed home a rebound from Alexander Radulov’s initial point blank chance, but the goal was overturned for goaltender interference.
According to the stat sheet, the Stars outplayed the Blue Jackets in every conceivable way except the most important stat–goals. They were finally rewarded with just over two minutes to go in regulation with a deflection goal from Radulov on a shot from Hamhuis. The Blue Jackets attempted to counter, but Alexander Wennberg’s shot at a wide open net was caught by Bishop on the recovery.
In overtime, Radulov took a tough penalty by closing his hand on the puck in the offensive zone. After the Stars came up with a huge kill, they drew a penalty of their own with 35 seconds left. There wasn’t enough time for them to get any good looks and the game went to a shootout. Artemi Panarin was the lone scorer in the three rounds to give the Blue Jackets the win.
Play of the Game
The Blue Jackets responded to the game-tying goal from Dallas with a push. Alexander Wennberg had an amazing opportunity with a yawning net, but Ben Bishop made the recovery with his glove and ensured that his team would at least collect one point in the standings.
SOMEONE CALL THE COPS. BISHOP JUST ROBBED WENNBERG LIKE NO OTHER. pic.twitter.com/BcmzjHNll1
— Dylan Nadwodny (@dnadders) January 19, 2018
The Upset Three Stars of the Game
1. Joonas Korpisalo (35 saves on 36 shots) – There wasn’t much else that the Finnish backup goaltender could’ve done to help his team. Not only did he puzzle the Stars in regulation, he was perfect in the shootout.
2. Ben Bishop (25 saves on 26 shots) – Bishop had a nice bounce back game and was especially stellar late in the third period and on the penalty kill in overtime to give the Stars a chance.
3. Alexander Radulov (1 G) – His late goal on the deflection helped ease the pain of losing by giving the Stars a point in a hard fought game.
The Goals
First Period
12:23 Jordan Schroeder scored the first goal on a golden opportunity set up by a miscue behind the Stars net. Ben Bishop stopped the puck in the trapezoid, and Dan Hamhuis tried to set up a breakout pass that bounced off Tyler Motte’s skate and in front of Schroeder who beat Bishop five hole. Stars 0, Blue Jackets 1
Dan Hamhuis tries to force a puck into the middle and it ends up on some Columbus sticks and eventually goes in past Bishop. Jordan Schroeder with his first of the season. 1-0 Blue Jackets. pic.twitter.com/O10HrzJIyl
— Dylan Nadwodny (@dnadders) January 19, 2018
Second Period
No goals
Third Period
17:55 Alexander Radulov got his stick down to redirect a shot from Dan Hamhuis to tie the game at one. Stars 1, Blue Jackets 1
All a part of the plan. Seguin whiffs and Radulov tips it past Korpisalo (legally). Tie game, 1-1. pic.twitter.com/vBqR5xNhC4
— Dylan Nadwodny (@dnadders) January 19, 2018
Overtime
No goals
Blue Jackets lineup
Artemis Panarin — Pierre Luc-Dubois — Josh Anderson
Boone Jenner — Alexander Wennberg — Oliver Bjorkstrand
Matt Calvert — Lukas Sedlak — Nick Foligno
Jordan Schroeder — Jussi Jokinen — Tyler Motte
Zach Werenski — Seth Jones
Markus Nutivaara — David Savard
Scott Harrington — Jack Johnson
Joonas Korpisalo
Sergei Bobrovsky
Scratched: Markus Hannikainen
Injured: Ryan Murray (upper body), Cam Atkinson (fractured foot), Brandon Dubinsky (fractured orbital bone)
Stars lineup
Jamie Benn — Tyler Seguin — Alexander Radulov
Mattias Janmark — Jason Spezza — Devin Shore
Antoine Roussel — Radek Faksa — Tyler Pitlick
Remi Elie — Martin Hanzal — Brett Ritchie
Esa Lindell — John Klingberg
Dan Hamhuis — Greg Pateryn
Dillon Heatherington — Stephen Johns
Ben Bishop
Kari Lehtonen
Scratched: Gemel Smith, Julius Honka
Injured: Marc Methot (knee)
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